A Republican tidal wave in 2010?

By Dan Balz
A week after Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said Republicans can't win control of the House in this year's midterm elections, two House leaders have offered a contrary -- and highly bullish -- forecast.

"We believe we can win back the majority," House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told a group of reporters over dinner Tuesday night. "Lot of work to do. It is not a done deal, a sure shot, but we believe we can take back this majority."

Cantor and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who heads up the party's recruiting efforts for the midterm elections, offered both their upbeat predictions for the midterms and a rough roadmap for taking back the majority they lost in 2006.

The two House leaders, pointing to GOP victories in Virginia and New Jersey last November and the nervousness among Democrats about next week's special Senate election in Massachusetts, said that the national political climate is now titled significantly against President Obama and the Democrats.

They said the effort Democrats are now making in Massachusetts reminded them of the lengths to which Republicans went in 2006 in special elections in normally GOP districts, only to lose them because of the political environment.

"This is an election where people are just going to be motivated and governed by their distaste for this agenda being proposed here," Cantor said. "It's that straightforward."

He offered this cautionary note: "It's not easy. We've got things that need to happen. Dem retirements need to happen. We've got to put together the money to make it happen and this president sort of has to stay the course of where he is now, which is insisting upon these bills that don't make much sense, given where people are in this country."

The two leaders said internal polling presented during a retreat earlier in the day was so positive that the pollsters "said they had to recheck their numbers because they could not believe that the numbers looked as good as they did for us on some of these issues."

In 1994, many Democrats were caught by surprise by the strength of the Republican tide. Democrats claim that won't happen this year, that they have had ample time to prepare for a difficult election year. But the two House Republicans said preparation can only bring limited protection.

"We were prepared for 2006," McCarthy said. "You can be prepared for the tidal wave. Have you ever been out in the ocean? I'm from California. I'm prepared, but it knocks me on my butt. It goes over the top of me."

Cantor added, "You look at '06 and we had all the money. We had all the power, too -- and we got blown away."

Republicans plan to focus their attacks on Democrats on three key House votes: the administration's stimulus package, the energy bill that includes a cap-and-trade mechanism and the health-care bill that is in final negotiations.

They also said two groups of Democratic members could be vulnerable in November: those elected in 2006 and 2008 who have never had to run in a tough environment and those who have been in office five terms or more and, as McCarthy put it, "have become Washington."

The two leaders contested criticism that Republicans have no ideas of their own and have simply adopted a posture of opposition against Obama. In September 1994 Republicans came forward with their "Contract with America," a set of governing issues and promises. Cantor said party leaders soon will begin working to develop what he called "a 21st century agenda for the Republican Party" that can be used by candidates later this year.

The Republicans have nearly the same chance of winning a majority in the Senate after this year's elections as the Washington Redskins have of winning the Super Bowl next month.

As to the House of Representatives, Republicans should win about twenty seats. They could win thirty or forty seats if they were a genuine center-right party, offering viable, moderately populist alternatives in the areas of health care, protectionism, illegal immigration, taxes and job growth.

Most independents seem disillusioned with Obama and Democrats in Congress, but many will simply not vote before generally voting for Republicans,

Incoherent rambling... Sara is that you???
===========================================
So,yep you betcha and you can even bet your
bippy that Election Day 2010 will see the
Republicans start to win back control of
Congress,thanks to the Failed Presidency
of Democrat Import Empty Suit from Kenya
Barack Hussein Obama,along with the crazy
out of touch with reality looney toons in
the Democrat Leadership,like Mad Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi,Slimey Steny Hoyer and
Senile Harry Reid will assure the GOP a huge Election 2010 Victory.. And which will
lead to Impeachment of Barack Hussein Obama
and the Democrats also losing the White House in 2012! Bye Dimwit Democrats!

Here is an interesting quote from another article on the $33 B emercency funding request by Obama..."Congress also kept alive an alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter made by General Electric Co and Rolls Royce Group, despite Pentagon objections."

When Congress stops listening to the people who run Agencies we have problems. When Congress stops listening to the People of this country we have problems. In these uncertain economic times Congress cannot afford to do so. Time have changed. This is not the US that was just created years ago. This is a more modern America, where our elected leaders are not the most educated or wealthiest people anymore (although they find a way to make themselves wealthy). They must listen to the people. Will a new Republican class change the ways of Washington? Doubtful. And it is obvious the Democrats have no intention of doing that either. I guess just another bunch of empty campaign promises!

There will be change, and it will hopefully be voters sending fiscally responsible candidates to office Red, Blue or any color in between. We can no longer afford the statists that are currently in office, nor can we return to the Bush era.

"The loss of work to other countries, while painful in the short term, will enrich the economy eventually, his report to Congress says."

The embrace of foreign outsourcing, an accelerating trend that has contributed to U.S. job losses in recent years and has become an issue in the 2004 elections, is contained in the president's annual report to Congress on the health of the economy.

Bring back the Republicans as they know the costs of Americans for jobs are too high.

Repeal the minimum wage laws.

Discontinue payment and taxes for unemployment benefits.

Stop the food stamp program.

Repeal the child labor laws.

Imagine the tax cuts possible since there will no longer a need to spend on public education.

With massive unemployment, American businesses will stop direct export of American jobs, and using visas for foreign workers when Americans finally understand their true worth and are realistic with wages.

Just what we need . . . a GOP majority, as if the current GOP minority is not destroying our religious freedom and freedom from poverty and illness.
Geeze! Back to the Bush/Cheney/Rove era - the worst period in our history!

Geez, can we have more of these stupid "will it be a landslide" punditries? I can't get enough of Republicans claiming they just know they have a plan and that everything's going to fall their way and so what if there are 10 months before the elections - everyone knows that nothing major ever happens that might possibly effect the political status.

I wish we could declare a moratorium on these "stories" and columns and opinion pieces until, say, June, by which time we'll really know who's running and who isn't; we'll know whether or not the economy is improving, tanking or running in place; we'll know if the job situation has or hasn't improved and/or if there are signs of improvement; we'll know if healthcare reform has been passed, much less financial reform. And so on.

Claiming a crystal ball regarding November election in the 2nd week of January is the 2nd most idiotic thing going; continually reporting on it is the 1st.

Will the conservatives enjoy a resurgence at the polls in November? I'm sure they'll have some modest gains, as the out-party always does in a mid-term election.

But you never know. Some in the country seem to have amnesia regarding the stellar governance of the Republicans. You probably wouldn't go broke betting on the collective memory loss of the voters in this regard.

Political fortunes rise and fall, almost daily. Making any sort of prediction when the elections are almost a year away seems ludicrous, at least to me.

If the economy is still in the tank, then, yea, the party in power gets punished - this is nothing new. However, if the economy - and particularly the jobs picture - is showing steady improvement, then Republicans will probably have to find a way to spin winning a few seats into some sort of electoral mandate.

So,yep you betcha and you can even bet your
bippy that Election Day 2010 will see the
Republicans start to win back control of
Congress,thanks to the Failed Presidency
of Democrat Import Empty Suit from Kenya
Barack Hussein Obama,along with the crazy
out of touch with reality looney toons in
the Democrat Leadership,like Mad Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi,Slimey Steny Hoyer and
Senile Harry Reid will assure the GOP a huge Election 2010 Victory.. And which will
lead to Impeachment of Barack Hussein Obama
and the Democrats also losing the White House in 2012! Bye Dimwit Democrats!

It is hard to believe that the American people will vote for the utter and complete shutdown of their government. By the time the 2010 elections come around, the refusal of all Republicans everywhere, all the time, to participate in making our government function will be completely etched in our minds. Plus, it strikes many people as simply unpatriotic to make every effort to make any President fail, for it means that the country itself fails. People are not going to vote for those who refuse to help them.

"2010 question: were you better off before or after the democrats took control of the house and senate in 2006?"

Better.

"2010 question: were you better off before or after HOPE and CHANGE?"

After. I no longer worried that Cheney would, on his own, launch a war against Iran. I knew our economy, ruined by Bush's lack of oversight and McCain's stubborn refusal to believe it was crashing, would now improve with adults in charge.

Cornell1984 wrote: "Even liberals can't deny that the economy was a lot better in January 2007, and even in January 2009."

What about October 2009 my friend? Selective facts will not get you very far. I also remember my adjustable rate mortgage going up under Bush at a steady rate. I remember the 'bridge to nowhere' and republicans in congress raiding the treasury for earmarks and Bush signing them all driving up the debt. I remember Bush saying he could care less about bin Laden with not a peep from other republicans about such an unbelievable statement. I remember republicans scurrying to change the reasons we attacked Iraq after WMD were not found. I watched as republicans do nothing as troops laft Afghanistan before the job was finished. I remember the lies and coverups on the true cost of Medicare Part D. I remember Bush pushing to place social security money into Wall Street investment houses. What a great idea that was...

Sorry, you can't select the few good times from republican years and expect people to forget the 90% of the very very bad. And with nothing to offer except NO votes, the republicans have shown no reason why they deserve one vote. An unwillingness to lead is not a very good reason to vote for them.

In 1767, when King George III announced his intent to raise the taxes and debt of Americans via The Revenue Act, a Pennsylvania farmer named **John Dickerson sent the following short letter to the editor of The Boston Gazette:

Here in 2010, the Democrats in the White House and the U.S. Congress have announced their intent to raise the taxes and debt of Americans via the Slush Fund (a.k.a., Stimulus) Package, the Health Care Takeover Act, and the Cap and Tax Act.

Now, it sounds to me like Congressman Cantor and others are beholding the ruin hanging over their/our heads and are beginning to rouse themselves to help ensure that another revolution of sorts will follow.

This next election will ride on the perceptions of the American people about the improvement in the economy. If they see it in a favorable light then they will go for the Dems (losses in seats in the house of 15 -20). If they are either indecisive or negative, it will go to Republicans.

The economy now seems to have objective signs that things are picking up. I tend to be optimistic though. There is plenty of time till the fall. We'll see then whether the voters are satisfied with the progress they see.

As the best and ultimate proof that Republicans are truly lunatics, that they truly hate the American people (middle class),
take Orin Hatch and his views on Israel. Note: you can replace the name of Orin Hatch with just about any Republican senator and many "moderate" Democrats (aka Republicans) too, but for sake of this proof we will use Orin Hatch.

To be exact: Orin Hatch has said, repeatedly, as late as few days ago when he taped a song for the Jewish Holiday of Hanukkah, that, and I quote:
“Anything I can do for the Jewish people, I will do...”
"In short, I love Israel and Jewish people...."

And Israel has Universal Socialized Single Payer Health Care, as a result of which ALL Israeli citizens,
whether they are employed or not, whether poor or rich, have access to the same health care for free, well free for the Taxes
that they pay, which you can read here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Israel
or here the Israeli health ministry Web sitehttp://tiny.cc/Xpahr
as a result of which ZERO Israeli's went bankrupt last year due to health care costs or ZERO Israeli's died due to
being DENIED health care because they have NO health insurance.

Just to be clear this article is not anything against Israel, it is actually for Israel by stating the FACT that Israel provides all its citizen with free quality health care by providing them the same health care system as they have in UK, Canada, and ALL other European nations. Although to be exact Israeli health care system is much more like UK than France since it is single payer.

Balz you are supposed to be a journalist! The headline, lead, and article are based on non-facts. Like rubbing two sticks together to light a fire, you put together a couple of quotes from the same Republicans that tried (successfully at the Post) to convince us the summer Tea Parties were a spontaneous revolt of the silent majority. To repeat: this is in no way news or legitimate "news analysis".

More than 40 seats would have to change from D to R to take the house. Dems currently have an 80 eat majority. Given that the incumbency rate is near 95% in house races.... and given that more open seats exist in republicon districts, same for senate races BTW, this is nonsesne. Cheerleading to try to get some donations to the party. Whistling past the graveyard. But it does give all of us who love America a great reason to make sure to donate to the Democrats, support our local candidates, and make sure to do whatever is needed to make sure the vermin who nearly destroyed the republic fr the thrid time in less than a century do not see power for a long long time.

Look. Even if conservatives pull this off and take back the House and Senate, it isn't going to make any difference to the larger picture. Why? Because they are a regressive force a "retro" theology rather than a a serious governing party. That is why they do not offer any specific plans or policies. They do not believe in government and their policy is simply, do nothing. It is an astonishing testament to the unimaginable stupidity of the American voter--particularly the politically unsophisticated independents in the country--that the republicans are doing as well as they are.

Believe me. Another dose of conservatism will be enough to seal America's fate as a declining, third world country that will not be able to even begin competing with Asia and Europe and probably will even be surpassed by growing Latin American economies.

What I see happening is this country is ever growing stupidity, ignorance, and gullibility. The very fact in a recent poll more Americans indicated they agreed with the insulting, racist sentiments of the Tea Party goons is sufficient to tell me that America is far from the great progressive, enlightened country it once was.

As far as I am concerned, Bin Laden is welcome to this outhouse pit that the tea party crowd has created in America. It isn't even worth defending.

The tyranny of the British is exactly the asme as the tyranny of the Democrats in congress and President Obama. King George III was working to make sure all the citizens had access to health care and hospitals, that all the subjects of the North American colonies had access to university education, that the colonies were not subject to arbitrary whims of emplyers, that their environment was kept clean, that they had aceess to government information....

You IMBECILES who liken your tea bagging events protesting AGAINST having lower taxes and a better quality of life to the American Revolution whiz on the graves of those brave men who fought for our freedom from ACTUAL tyranny under King George.

hamptons1: You speak like a real revolutionary, ready to tear it all down because now that capitalism has gone insane and Big Money is controlling every aspect of our lives, we're all going to be socialists. Where were you when George W. Bush and the Republican Congress were spending us into debt at a record rate? When John McCain was calling them a "drunk sailor Congress"? Where were you? Supporting them, no doubt, cheering them on because the great patriotic Republican Party(and they're always the first to remind you how patriotic they are)was putting those evil liberals in their place. But if it was Obama in Bush's place, mismanaging two wars into hundred billion dollar debacles, you would've been screaming for his head instead of cheering it all on. You fake.

There is a big diference between 06 and 10. In 06 the country was going off the rails, and republicons had been driving it that was for 6 years. The resident had started an illegal war which continued to drag on, we were getting daily reports of republicons backing things like torture and tax cuts for billionaires. In short, republicons were and abject and total failure.

Here we are a year after Democrats took control of the federal government and they are succeeding despite efforts of conservatives to follow ayatollah limbaaughs unpatriotic fatwah to make the nation fail. ALl economic indicators and to the positive, our position in the world is on the mend, terrorist are being killed and marginalized instead of our foreign pokicy actually strengthening them.

Dems will probably drop a seat or two, but republicons are whistling past the graveyard if they think they are going to do better than that.

Thehamptons, don't give me that crap! You are unbelievably stupid! Left wing radicals? Huh! where? Every freaking democrat in both houses is a centrist or a conservative. You are so freaking dense you couldn't find your lardy behind with both hands. You sit around all day whacking to the pathetic burblings of morons like Beck and Limbaugh who are little more than gay Nazis harboring fantasies about whipping each others buttocks with braided whips.

- Huckabee Pastors who cherry-pick Psalms 109 to pray for the death of the President

- Donohue Catholics who can only harp about abortions while hiding pedophile priests

- RNC Fox News

- Limbaugh hate radio

- homophobia

- demonizing Mexicans

- hatred of Muslims

- AIPAC

- torture

- Christian Oil Crusades

- Lord Cheney

- Ann Coulter

- corrupt Senators and Congressmen on the lobbyist dole - albeit this applies to Democrats as well

- birthers

- teabaggers

- Craig, Haggard, Rep. Foley and other closeted homosexuals who make political hay bashing gays

- O'Reilly, Hannity, Huckabee, North, Rove and Palin as political and religious pundits of intolerance and arrogance

A winning combination, Michael, please keep it up.

There is a Spanish proverb that says "show me who you are with and I will tell you what you are" This certainly applies to the new GOP and Americans, who you believe obviously have "STUPID" stamped on their foreheads, will supposedly continue to buy it.

Not only will the liberal radicals in the democratic party be ousted in 2010, the job will be finished in 2012.
Obama got elected with absolutely no experience, arrogance and a shady past. He probably hadn't even had to prepare and adhere to a family budget. If he can pull that off, Sarah Palin with her experience and moxey will unseat him in 2012.

Can't you people see what is happening here? Almost every single article you read in the papers, every single bit pf punditry you see on television or hear on radio is negative on democrats and positive on republicans. And it is all based on polls driven by the media.

They don't want you to vote! Period. Every single thing the media is doing right now favors a republican takeover next November. It is what they want. It is why they are so consistently negative on democrats. They have one central message they want to convey to democrats: Give it up! You cannot win so don't even bother to show up!

If you listen to these a#*holes, you are giving the House and the Senate to the GOP on a silver platter!

Eric Cantor is either a liar or an idiot. There are zero Republican leaders that behind close doors believe they are going to win back the House or Senate. The GOP/conservative infighting and lack of message will stop them from capitalizing on the usual mid-term turn. Where is their strategy, where is their fundraising, and where is their national message to the voters? All they do is repeat the same economic goals of the Bush years and we all know where that got us.

This country was founded by people who refused to accept the tyranny imposed on them by the British government. That same spirit has never died in the America.

The left wing radical liberals think the people are too stupid to understand what's going on as they attempt to gain power and control in order to put in place a socialist state. But the people aren't stupid and can be pushed just so far.

Philly33 we have to remember people who are moderate/independent also like facts, not fiction...or the whole truth, not half truths.

Yes, the Democrats passed the stimulus, but it began with Bush in 2008. Only history will be able to judge the true outcome of this historic action. I'm sure when it comes down to it, if it is a success, Republicans will say it was Bush and Dems will say Obama. We need to work more as a "country" and not on extreme ideals of either party. Standing up against an unjust cause is admirable, but standing up just because an idea is sponsored by someone of another party is foolish.

Yes, us moderate/independents will play a huge part in 2010, but we won't get fooled with non-sense and party bickering. My vote goes to the person who stands for something....i dont like to give my vote to the extreme end of either party.

Lets face the FACTS: Republicans have been and are utter complete lunatics

To see what Lunatics Republicans are consider some of their positions & beliefs

Republicans were and are for:

The Iraq War that has wasted, to date, $2Trilion dollar of our money set aside how many innocent people it has killed.

But Republicans are:

Against European or Canadian style Universal health care for American people, calling it "Socialism", and for our current bankrupting health care system which is taking 18% of the GDP while leaving 50Mill Americans without health care and even those who have health insurance find out that when they have a health care need they are hit with exorbitant co-pays & deductibles resulting in 2Mill Americans going bankrupt each year due to health care costs while in European countries that ALL have Universal health care ZERO people are going bankrupt each year due to health care costs AND health care is taking 8% of GDP and Europeans have a much higher life expectancy than Americans. For a complete description and analysis of why European or Canadian style Universal health care is MUCH BETTER than US style for profit private insurance based system you can read this article
which covers this issue in full so we do not have to spend more on it here.

So who but a total lunatic would state that providing Universal nationalized health care to Americans will bankrupt us when the EXACT opposite is true as ABSOLUTELY clear by all Europeans countries, Canada, Japan, Israel, etc. having Universal health care.
On this note to see what utter lunatics Republicans are consider the FACT that Republicans are 100% for Israel, they fall over themselves praising Israel and Israel has Universal nationalized health care. Or Republicans, in particularly as personified by their Dear leader Ronald Reagan considered Margaret Tatchers Conservative party in UK to be great and best representative of market economy and the Conservative party in UK is 100% for their Universal nationalized health care, more on these FACTS here:
anoox.com/blog/Real_News.34034

The elections in 2010 and beyond will be determined by the independents. They are pretty upset and angry with the democrats. Democrats hold the white house and they have a 60-vote majority in the senate and a substantial majority in the house of representatives. This in essence makes the US no different from a parliamentary style democracy where a single party with a one vote majority can make a difference. For a variety of reasons, the only thing the democrats (i. e. the WHOLE US GOVT.) has accomplished is the so called stimulus plan which threw $$$ out and got nothing. There were no legislative accomplishments that benefits the ordinary person. Independents are concerned about the economy, jobs, and national security. They would throw the ruling party (i. e., democrats)out if things do not change. It happened in New Jersey and Virginia. It could happen in Massachusetts. It would happen nationally.

This isn't a story, this is just a bunch of quotes from Republicans. All nicely hedged with the media-standard ?-trailing headline.

The fact is there are more Republican retirements in the House and Senate than Democratic retirements. The Dems will lose seats like all in-power parties do during mid-terms, but so far there is little hard evidence that it will be any worse for them than normal.